


Of all promises, why did it have to be farming?

by squidballsinc



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game), 백작가의 망나니가 되었다 - 유려한 | Trash of the Count's Family - Yulyeohan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Gen, Is this crack?, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Stardew Valley AU, The Author Regrets Nothing, a little cursing, but also not really, they remember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 10:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidballsinc/pseuds/squidballsinc
Summary: Kim Rok Soo stared out at the view from his newly acquired porch, at his newly acquired house. Looking out at the expansive yet overgrown land around him, he felt an overwhelming sense of dread.God dammit, I never should have accepted that promise…Sometimes he wonders how he got in this position…
Relationships: Cale Henituse | Kim Rok Soo & Everyone
Comments: 27
Kudos: 248





	Of all promises, why did it have to be farming?

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhh hello! Welcome to... whatever this is... this is my first work for this fandom so I'm sorry if anything seems OOC! This was kinda a mash between a story idea and au idea that I just combined so I'm sorry if it reads a bit weird! I have nothing else to say but I hope you enjoy!

Kim Rok Soo never drank much, but decided to make an exception for that day. He had just gotten off his last day of work, having slaved away endlessly for 10 years working more overtime than anyone really asked him to, the CEO had acknowledged his hard work and let him rest into an early retirement. 

( _Certainly not influenced by his work on the stock market, using the information he had easily memorized to predict trends and scandals before they happen, acquiring more money than would probably ever be needed by even a millionaire to live out a peaceful retirement. No. Definitely not._ )

Smiling to himself, he took a sip of his glass of wine as he watched the time change to 12:00pm, November 8. 

And then immediately drops the glass. Dimly, he knows that the glass has shattered, the edges of the shards cutting up the sides of his feet, the wine and blood mixing together to dye the edges of his pants a dull yet vivid red.

But he can’t bring himself to care as he’s flooded with memories-

_The taste of sour lemonade-_

_The purrs of two kittens-_

_The shouts of a baby dragon-_

_The sudden appearance of a mage and 11 wolves-_

_The feeling of power being obtained-_

_The struggle of fighting battles in a war that was fated to happen-_

_The worries of the people waiting for him-_

_And-_

_AND--!_

_“Once this is all over, create a farm in the Forest of Darkness.”_

He had promised…

Sighing, he stood up and went to get some towels to clean up the mess. Not looking back at the blood trailing behind him on the floor.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Now, a few months after that incident, Rok Soo finally gathered up what little energy he had to go greet the residents. After all, it’s not procrastination if you’re doing something productive right? Right.

Just as he was about to move from his perch on the porch a knock came from the fence, turning around he saw a man with orange hair and blue eyes.

“Hello there!” The man greeted, “You must be the new farmer who moved in! My name is Hans, I live to the north of here with the adorable ki--ds. Yep. My adorable kids!”

Rok Soo nodded, “I’m Kim Rok Soo. Nice to meet you.”  
“I’m the carpenter here.” Hans continued, “So come by anytime you need repairs or need something built!”

“Alright.” He said dismissively, watching Hans leave with a smile and sagging shoulders. _Huh that’s strange I didn’t expect to find him here… Let’s just ignore it for now…_

Firmly deciding to _not_ ponder upon the coincidence he pulled out a map he had provided of the area and set out into the town. Going in, the first thing he saw was a storefront that seemed to be the town’s local convenience store, _Henituse’s...nope not thinking about that-_

However it seemed that his suspicions were correct, since the moment he entered the store he was greeted by the voice of none other than Deruth Henituse.

“Ah yes welcome! You must be the new farmer in town, my name is Deruth Henituse. I am the owner of this store.”

“I am Kim Rok Soo, pleased to meet you.”

Deruth nodded, “Pleased to meet you as well. Now is there anything I can help you with?”

Rok Soo shook his head, “Not really, I was just looking around.”

“Well alright. But there is something I have to warn you about.” Deruth suddenly adopted a serious expression, almost as if he wanted to walk up and grab him by the shoulders if it didn’t go against common courtesy, “Whatever you do, do not--ever-- buy anything from Arm Mart. They are shady people who cannot be trusted, understand?”

Rok Soo nodded his head, already distrusting the store the moment it was revealed that it was named ‘Arm’.

“Thank you for understanding. Please come again.”

He continued on for the rest of the day, greeting all of the townsfolk that were shockingly identical to ~~his family~~ the people he knew as Cale. 

He had learned that On and Hong were apparently staying with Hans. Ron and Beacrox were running “The Hope and Adventure Loving Bar” now. Litiana had started a ranch in the forest, where the Tigers had also taken to living. Hilsman and the wolves had gotten themselves a nice blue house, with Rosalyn living next door. Shickler, Writia, and Paseton had started a fishing shop with Archie living on the beach near them. The sun god twins and Mary seem to have all taken to working at the clinic. Clopeh (who thankfully didn’t recognize him) and his father had somehow acquired a house. Cage and Taylor ended up in charge of the library. Alberu had somehow gotten himself elected mayor and was staying in the mayor’s house. Choi Han had set up camp in the mountains. And the dragons had gotten themselves a tower in the forest. (He tried not to think too hard about Raon in human form, how he never got to see him transform as Cale, how Raon didn’t even have a spark of recognition in his eyes when they greeted each other.)

Rok Soo flopped onto the bed with a thud, ready to surrender the day to the sweet embrace of sleep. He had gained a lot of information, most importantly of all was that no one seemed to have their memories. After all, he had revealed his true identity before the final battle.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
A few months before, the citizens of the village had gathered for a meeting.

“Alright then,” Alberu started, “I would like to thank you all for gathering-”

“Get to the point.” Hannah interrupted, much to the distress of her brother.

Alberu nodded, “Of course. I was wondering if any of you had gained some… memories lately?”

Everyone snapped to attention, “You too?!?” Choi Han asked in awe.

“So it seems that we weren’t the only ones…”

“Does that mean that everyone remembers?”

“How did we gather here anyway?”

“WAIT!”

Everyone turned to the little former-dragon at his outburst, “If we’re all here then where’s the human?!?” he cried.

They silently agreed, surely whatever force that had driven them all together like this must have to have dealt with Cale too. They all pondered for a second before Choi Han muttered out a thought, “What if he came back… as his original self…?”

They all thought back to the weeks before the final battle, when Cale had revealed himself to be a transmigrator. Some of them had found it hard to accept at first, especially those who knew the original Cale Henituse, but they had remembered all that he had done for them. And had been reassured that wherever the original Cale was, he was happy. That is why none of them hated Cale, with whatever hard feelings melting away and replaced by grief and longing after the end of the final battle.

They all wanted to see him again, that was all they knew.

“...Does anyone remember who the young master originally was…?” Hans tentatively asked.

They dug through their memories wildly, trying to find any hint at who he was. He had told them his name, they _knew_ he did, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t remember. It was as if his name was erased from their minds. 

It was even worse for Choi Han and Alberu, who had actual memories of the original. With his face blurred out or distorted, his voice twisted beyond comprehension, the mere thought of _thinking_ about who he was was attacking their minds to the point of a headache.

The silence was the only answer they needed.

“I’m sure that we’ll recognize him when we see him!” Hong declared.

“R-right!”

“I am great and mighty! I will definitely know the human when I see him!”

Tentative hope grew in their hearts, yes. They will meet Cale again. He can’t seem to get himself out of trouble after all, he’s basically a beacon.

That’s when Alberu got a ping from his phone, opening it up, he almost fell off his chair in shock.

“What is it?”

“Someone bought the old farm!”

Chaos descended over the group a moment later.

“Who bought it?!”

“Could it be the young master-”

“Is it the human? Is it?! IS IT?!?”

“...I don’t know…”

They paused, “huh?”

Alberu clarified, “The buyer is unlisted.”

That’s why they awaited the day that the new farmer arrived, eager to see if it was him, if he remembered. But the man that came was one they didn’t recognise.

At first they saw his calm demeanor, his reddish-brown eyes, and they were painfully reminded of everything that had made Cale-- _Cale_. But then they saw his black hair, his unfamiliar face, and the lack of spark in his eyes as he saw them and they thought, _oh_.

The new farmer was named Kim Rok Soo, and he wasn’t _Cale_.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
It had been 5 days since he moved in and Rok Soo had (reluctantly) begun work on the farm. He had cleared away some of the grass and rocks to start a little plot where he planted some parsnips. Staring out at the practical forest that was the rest of the plot, he decided that smaller was better since he was just beginning. (Did they really expect him to clear out all of those trees?)

He was heading into town once again when he finally noticed some stairs off to the side. Curious about what it was (and needing an excuse to ignore the farm) he climbed the stairs and followed the path, coming face to face with a large run down building with a sign naming it “The Community Center”.

Deciding that anything was better than going back to the farm at that very moment, he walked in to see that the inside was just as sad and decrepit as the outside. The place was very big and spacious however, and the remnants of the items spread throughout showed signs of it once being a bustling place.

Eventually he came across a strange golden scroll on the floor of one of the rooms, (one that looked like some kind of place for kids to do arts in crafts, would the kids like this place?) bending down he realised that there were some kind of words inscribed on the scroll. But they were in a language he couldn’t decipher, standing up he noticed a spot of red in the corner of his vision.

Looking over, he saw a small red ball looking at him from behind a bookshelf. They stared at each other for a minute or so before a (slightly larger) green ball appeared and pulled the red ball away.

Thoroughly convinced that this place _must_ be haunted, Rok Soo took his leave.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The next day, Rok Soo received a peculiar letter written in crayon to visit the dragons’ tower. Not being able to say no, he had gone and had a meeting with Eruhaben.

“So you’ve been poking around the old community center?”

“Uh… yeah…”

Eruhaben nodded, “Well, I just wanted to warn you that there are some beings that happen to be residing there.”

Rok Soo thought back to the ball-like creatures he saw the other day and nodded his head.

“That is why I am sorry.”

At Rok Soo’s (understandable) confusion Eruhaben elaborated, “If you are going to be hanging around that area then you will need a way to respect the locals. That is why I have given you something, you should be feeling the effects soon.”

Almost as if a trigger, Rok Soo’s vision began to warp in a nauseating way. He looked down at the cup of tea that he had been given, which had started to bleed green. His stomach churned as he suddenly _felt **everything**_.

_...Did this bastard just poison me?_ Was the last thought that went through Rok Soo’s head before everything faded.

The next morning he had a new problem-

**> Just what did that fucker think he was doing?**

-It seemed as though some old tenants had reappeared.

**> Ugh… my appetite… is ruined…**

**> Why did you even drink that? Did you want to sacrifice yourself?**

_This was all the haunted building’s fault_. Rok Soo decided to ignore it.

  
\- - - - - - - - - - 

  
The next few days saw Rok Soo working on the farm with renewed vigor that was completely against his will. Said will had been taken by two very loud tenants that had pestered him endlessly to work on the farm (when they had learned of it) for two very different reasons.

**> Yes! Grow those crops until they are big and ripe! Finally! Some good fucking food!**

**> What?! No! You must grow them to sell them! Think of all the money you could get! You hear me! Think of the money!**

**> Who would grow perfectly good food if not to eat it?!?**

**> Who cares we already have food, what we need is money!**

**> WE NEED TO EAT THE FOOD TO SURVIVE YOU CHEAPSKATE!!**

**> SAYS YOU YOU GIANT GLUTTON!!**

**> WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!?!--**

And so Rok Soo had to do the only thing he could to get them to stop, farm. Just as he was about to head towards Henituse’s for more seeds, The Sound of the Wind stopped him.

**> Turn left.**

_Ha?_ He looked to where the thief was telling him to go and shuddered, _no way I’m not heading back to that haunted building._

**> Go. Turn left.**

Sighing at her persistence, Rok Soo gave in and made his way to the building.

And was immediately slammed into by a suspiciously familiar red ball upon entry. The ball ran into him, running around him in circles for a bit before steadying into embracing his chest like some circle-y rendition of a koala. The green ball from before was watching a ways to the side with two other (also green) balls, seemingly waiting in anticipation.

It suddenly dawned on him what those ‘ _balls_ ’ were, “...Elementals?”

**> So you finally recognized them.**

The green ~~balls~~ elementals came over and started loudly trying to talk.

“Pi pi! Pi pi pipi!”

“H-huh?”

The only problem was that he didn’t have the ability to understand them. They lowered their heads(?) in distress.

**> You lack my Top’s Whip, so you can no longer understand them.**

Rok Soo sighed at the elemental’s pouty looks, like they were balloons that had all their air expelled. Or pillows without any stuffing.

**> However, there may still be a way…**

Curiosity peaked, he let the thief continue.

**> That dragon had given you a way to communicate with them yes? In the tea? That means that it must be some way other than talking. Maybe an artifact?**

_So she wants me to look for an artifact now? Rok Soo sighed as he pondered his options, on one hand The Indestructible Shield and the Fire of Destruction have been pestering me to work on the farm, on the other… the elementals look so pitiful._

He looked down at the elementals gathered around him, all of them sulking in various ways, before sighing and headed towards where he remembered that ‘ _artifact_ ’ to be.

A couple of them looked up when they saw him start to move, even the little fire elemental that was stuck to his chest turned its head(?) up to look at him. “Are you coming?”

And just like that they perked up--a few of them wiped what eerily looked like tears from their eyes--and started to run after him as fast as they could.

Heading back into what he was now convinced was a crafts room, he walked up to the scroll and looked at it. Sure enough, he could read what was written.

_“We the elementals are happy to aid you. In return we ask for gifts of the valley. If you are one with the forest magic then you will see the true nature of this scroll.”_

The scroll then shifted to reveal a list of different items, but that wasn’t of much importance at the moment as Rok Soo informed the elementals of what he had learned.

“It seems as though I can read your language now…”

All of the elementals jumped in shock, frantically running around looking for things to write with. The little fire elemental even detached itself from Rok Soo’s front and started running around. Eventually, it found a half broken crayon in the corner and some paper under a shelf, and quickly ran back to start writing it’s message.

_“Destruction! Sea of Fire! My idol! Cale!”_

“Ah, my name isn’t Cale anymore.” He corrected, “It’s Kim Rok Soo.”

The elemental tilted it’s head in confusion before nodding and corrected it’s message, _“Destruction! Sea of Fire! My idol! ~~Cale~~! Kim Rock Soup!”_

He stared blankly at the message for a bit before sighing, “Close enough.” He patted it’s head, causing all the other elementals to gather and write out their own messages.

Rok Soo stayed there for a while, chatting with the elementals. Before he left he took a look at the list that had appeared on the scroll, full of ‘bundles’. And after realising that he had all the stuff for one of the bundles (thanks to a certain thief/glutton combo that just wouldn’t let something edible stay on the ground) and gave them over. Which earned him several seeds--that the Fire of Destruction and The Indestructible Shield would no doubt make him plant--as an award.

All in all, his day wasn’t a waste. And now he at least knew that he elementals had their memories, even if ~~the rest of his family~~ everyone else didn’t.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Rok Soo never thought that he would see the day that Alberu Crossman, the Sun of the Roan Kingdom, his sworn brother, and the _Crown Prince_ , sitting down to paint easter eggs.

It was now mid spring, and the town was getting read for the Egg Festival.

Alberu had sent out invitations to everyone asking to help paint eggs for the event, and Rok Soo would never pass up an opportunity to ~~procrastinate~~ help the community. Everyone in the town had seemingly gathered, with the children getting help from the adults on how to paint the eggs.

“Oh! We should enchant them!” Rosalyn chirped up from her spot.

“That’s a great idea Ms. Rosalyn!” Raon agreed, “That way the eggs will be actually challenging to collect!”

“Hmmm that does sound like an interesting prospect.” Eruhaben agreed, “How about we give it a try?”

A fire lit up in their eyes at what was basically their teacher telling them that they could go wild…  
.  
.  
.  
5 minutes later saw the death of the last walking-magic-resistant-battle-ready-attack-egg-o-copter to the wrong side of Choi Hans sword. And while none of the others were in the least bit phased at the use of magic, a few of them had realised the outsider among their ranks, and turned to gauge his reaction (and whether or not induced amnesia might be necessary).

Rok Soo simply looked at the carnage, paint was everywhere, egg shells littered the floor, and slash and burn marks littered the surrounding from where they had missed the small targets that once were simple eggs. “I’m not helping you clean this up.”

A few of them sighed in relief, Rok Soo didn’t understand what all the concern was about as he got up and went back to the farm.

It was only later that Rok Soo realised what their use of magic meant. _They remembered._

He paused frowning, _but if they do, then why didn’t they recognise me? I told them my name, Choi Han and Alberu have seen my face, so why didn’t they…_

**> It is likely the work of the Sealed God.**

The Super Rock cut in.

**> The Sealed God has the unique ability to interfere with dimensions. It is possible that the Sealed God forced them to forget about you.**

Looking back on how Rok Soo had passed their test, actively tried to stop it’s worship, and killed the White Star, he agreed. _That makes sense._ But now there was only one question:

_...Should I tell them?_  
.  
.  
.  
_Eh, sounds like a bother. I’ll just ignore it._

And so he did…

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Eventually time passed to the end of the spring, bringing with it the Flower Dance. Which was going fine, people were talking, eating, dancing (he found the sight of ~~his kids~~ On, Hong, and Raon dancing adorable, not that he’d admit it) everything was fine.

...Until the people from Arm Mart arrived.

It seemed as though no matter the universe, those bastards always wanted to mess with them. Which could (not really) explain why they had barged into the scene and promptly challenged anyone and everyone to a dance off.

And honestly, Rok Soo couldn’t even pity the bastards when they got absolutely wrecked. Afterall, if they didn’t already have the skill to beat them, then the numbers advantage would have done the job.

(Although, Eruhaben break dancing the enemies into submission was a surprise…)

Rok Soo could only hope that they would learn from this massacre… too bad they were all idiots.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Summer saw Arm trying to ‘fight’ them with renewed vigor. From starting arguments, pricing wars, street brawls, and one particularly strange attempt at fighting the kid’s lemonade stand with one of their own (that obviously ended up with the kids winning).

But then, they decided to do something absolutely fatal. They put up _flyers_. They pasted them on the walls, filled people’s mail boxes with them, shoved them into people’s faces on the street, and even piled them in front of people’s houses.

So when Rok Soo opened the door to be buried in a mountain of flyers, he decided that it was time to perform an amputation on a certain limb.

Not by him of course, like he would bother to destroy them by himself when there were other people who were looking for an excuse to remove said limb from their direct line of sight (preferably forever).

And when he went to file a complaint about them to Alberu, said man then pulled out some sort of counter and added one. Before unleashing what Raon would call a scamming smile, causing Rok Soo to raise an eyebrow.

“This marks the 1000th complaint against them.” Alberu happily chirped, “Which means that we now have legal permission to demolish them!”

“How are you going to do that?”

“Ah do not fret, a few of us are proficient in demolishing… those kinds of buildings.”

And as he turned and looked at the very castle-esque building that had been the bane of the town's existence since it had been built he thought, _ah. I guess all that property damage dealt is going to pay off._

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The weather was hot, the sun was shining, and Rok Soo absolutely could not work on the farm. At this point the weather had gotten so hot that even the Fire of Destruction and The Indestructible Shield agreed that making him work for too long would probably give him a heat stroke.

And so, he had decided to visit the beach. In doing so however had prompted Shickler to give him a fishing rod and teach him to fish.

Although he had to admit, fishing wasn’t so bad since all he had to do was sit there and basically take a nap.

Yep, fishing wasn’t that bad.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Sometimes, he wonders if the universe hates him. That was the only way to explain the astounding number of fish that he had gathered. It’s not like he was doing much, all he really wanted was to take a nap, but every time before he could doze off another fish caught on the line. And every time he would reel it in in frustration.

The pattern continued until his entire fridge was full of them.

That’s why he was taking any excuse to get rid of them, such as bringing some to the Luau to put in the communal stew.

He wasn’t really sure how he expected it to taste with all the stuff that was put in there, (from fruit, to meat, to even some entire pastries) but Beacrox had somehow made it all work.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The rest of summer passed in a blur of heat and fish. He hadn’t even realised how much time had passed, and before he knew it it was the end of the season. Tonight everyone was gathered for the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies, while Rok Soo didn’t really know what those were, he could understand what all the excitement was about.

“It’s quite beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yes it is.”

“Raon seems to be enjoying himself.” Lord Sheritt smiled, gazing at the kids trying to catch one of the jellyfish, “I just wish he could have been here…” she murmured.

“Who?”

“Ah, I said that out loud didn’t I?” Lord Sheritt awkwardly smiled, “I was just talking about someone Raon is quite attached to, he had practically raised him and is basically his father you see. That’s why I think Raon would be more happy if he was here…”

Rok Soo felt a bit weird at the word ‘father’, he was a guardian to those kids at most. “But he’s plenty happy right now?”

“Pardon?” Lord Sheritt blinked.

“Well, he’s happy right now right? Since he has all of you as his family.”

They turned back to the children, watching as they started a competition of splashing each other in the face. With some of the adults joining in, all of them smiling whenever someone got hit with a big enough amount of water for them to ‘die’.

“Ah. I see.”

Summer came to an end as the moonlight jellies left, leaving behind the tired voices saying goodbye with promises of ‘tomorrow’.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The beginning of fall saw the odd arrival of a letter from Choi Han, asking him if he’d seen the berry basket he had lost. Rok Soo turned toward the corner of his house, where said lost basket he had found just yesterday laid. Sighing, Rok Soo picked it up and filled it with fish. Afterall, he had way too many.

That decision came back to haunt him in the form of Choi Han standing at his doorstep insisting on “paying for his meal” and not leaving until he agreed to let him help attend to the fields.

Which caused Raon (upon learning about Choi Han’s new ‘job’) to insist on wanting to help as well, with the excuse of “I want to practice water magic so that m-my d-da- the human will be proud of how great and mighty I have grown!”

Ignoring the weird stuttery feeling in his chest, Rok Soo gave into their puppy eyes and let Raon water the crops in the morning. Trying to ignore the absolute glee shining on their faces.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
That year’s Stardew Valley Fair saw Rok Soo’s farm winning the Grange Display contest, with the excess fish he had caught paired with the crops they had grown making a striking combo.

After that, it was only a simple matter of driving the fishing booth out of stock to buy the ‘rarecrow’ Raon had said he wanted.

But for some reason, they let him keep all the fish. Causing the amount of fish in his house to only increase, he swears that it’s a curse. Maybe he should bring it up to Cage…?

Anyway, probable curses from the fucking God of Death aside, the fair ended peacefully after the acquisition of every prize in the prize shop. Because really, wasting money was the best.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
...Never say the Spirits Eve is boring when there are beings with magic in the town.

Because seriously, a haunted maze that shifts while people are going through it, filled with hard to spot (but ultimately harmless) traps, and ending with a rock paper scissors tournament all to see who got to take home the mana infused golden pumpkin was a bit much.

But hey, at least the decorations were otherworldly.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Choi Han had moved in for the winter. I mean, Rok Soo just couldn’t let a guy who lived in a fucking tent stay out in the cold for an entire season right? It’s not like he had Hans renovate his house to add an extra room near the end of fall just for Choi Han to stay there, his place was just getting stuffy with all the fish and his new storage room just happened to have room for a bed.

Yes, he had only built that room because it was convenient.

Afterall, Choi Han got to experience the full joys of staying in a storage room after Rok Soo had gotten back from the Festival of Ice with all the fish he had caught to win the fishing competition.

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The Feast of the Winter Star saw presents being exchanged and food being shared. The townspeople gathered in front of the giant decorated pine tree celebrating the end of another year together. 

Rok Soo looked at the tree from his spot near the food tables, and noticed a pile of presents that had gone untouched. Turning to the nearest person he asked, “Who’re those presents for?”

“Ah, that’s for someone who was… very important to us.”

He looked back again, seeing the presents wrapped in bright red and gold and realising who it was for.

He (a bit hysterically) let out a laugh, “Well then I guess I should leave one too?”

Pulling out two glasses and filling them with wine, he put one under the tree.

“Cheers.” He joked, toasting to no one but himself.

“Cheers!” Came an unexpected response from next to him, causing a wave of cheers to pass through the crowd as people grabbed their glasses and drank.

Rok Soo was a bit dumbfounded at their response, before someone asked if he was going to drink with them, and then the children asked him to help them build a snowman, and he found himself taken over by the cheer. 

Later, after the party was over and people were starting to clean up and leave, Alberu approached him.

“Ah yes Rok Soo, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you of some people who’re going to be arriving soon. You see, they had been living in that trailer over there but had been called out for a… job overseas. That’s why they’ve been gone the whole year. I hope that you’ll be willing to introduce yourself?”

Rok Soo nodded.

“Great.”

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
Rok Soo knocked on the door until it opened, revealing no other than Glenn at the door.

“Hello, my name is Kim Rok Soo. I moved in a year ago on the old farm.”

“Hmm yes we’ve heard about that. Thank you for introducing yourself, my name is-” Before Glenn could finish his sentence however, he was cut off by none other than Bud running up and pushing him away. Staring intensely at Rok Soo.

“Ah, hello my name’s Kim Rok Soo-”

“FRIEND!” He was loudly cut off, the sheer volume of the shout drawing attention from all nearby areas, but he had no time to worry about that before he was enveloped in a crushing embrace.

“IT IS YOU!! I KNEW IT!!”

“Bud? What’s going on? Why’re you shouting?”

“Haa you mean you don’t know?” Bud asked incredulously, “It’s Cale! Ya’know! Our friend!”

“Oh, I guess that makes- WAIT WHAT?!?!?”

  
\- - - - - - - - - -

  
The rest of the town found out very quickly after that, with every new person finding out causing another ruckus, drawing in only more people to find out and make even more noise-

Either way, the others were both shocked and ecstatic to find out that he had been there. The children had immediately attached themselves to him upon finding out and refusing to leave, Raon even acquiring a pie from somewhere and trying to feed him even though he was too short and could no longer fly.

Someone had even suggested throwing a party (probably Bud) to which everyone immediately jumped on board, created what was probably the most fancy group picnic he had ever seen disguised as a party, and had to deal with everyone trying to shove as much food in him as possible.

But when he got back to his house that night, laying in bed with the lingering sounds of the party, surrounded by his kids for the first time in what felt like eternity, and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

  
\- - - - - - - - - - 

  
“You kept your promise.”

Opened his eyes, to see the man looking around his house. “I always do.” he responded.

Lee Soo Hyuk laughed, “That’s right, my little brother always keeps his promises!”

Rok Soo sighed, “Of course, and you had to pick something so tiring too. Right when I finally got to live my slacker life.”

“Aww but you still did a good job at making that farm.” Lee Soo Hyuk smiled, looking out the window.

Rok Soo followed his gaze, staring out at the rolling expanse of fields that his ~~friends~~ family had insisted on cultivating, “I guess we did.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.”

“Tch. Still a little punk aren't you?” Lee Soo Hyuk sighed, “Well, it seems at least the work’s getting done. Go on now, it’s time to wake up.” And as he reached out and ruffled his hair, Rok Soo woke up.

Noticing the lack of weight on his arms, he looked outside to see the kids out and watering the fields in a manner that more resembled a water fight. Sighing, he got up and headed towards the kitchen.

The kids needed to eat a good breakfast in order to grow well, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading whatever that was! If you have any questions feel free to ask, otherwise I hope that you enjoyed and have a nice day!


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